First year university was a bit of a challenge for me. I only attended chemistry periodically and when it came to algebra, I was dysfunctional. I just passed calculus because they graded me on the curve, and when it came to physics I could never figure out what was the matter. *
So, in second year University I majored in psychology (seriously) because of my great interest in the subject. Also, there were no classes on Fridays which matched my schedule well. In my first year Friday classes had been more difficult to get to than some of the others. Morning classes didn’t have a great attendance record either come to think of it.
But after being in the Psych program for a few months I met someone who had graduated from psychology top of her class, which was most likely the polar opposite of where I was going to end up. When she told me how much money she made, I knew that a career in the field would not support the lifestyle I was planning for, or even the one I was living at the time. After all, part of my financial plan involved living long enough to pay off my student loans.
So Plan B was obvious, time to transfer into engineering. After filling in some paperwork and doing my best to answer the questions truthfully where it made sense to, I was summoned to the Dean’s office.
The Dean of Engineering was reviewing my file and disposed of any formalities when he opened the conversation by saying “Your record isn’t that impressive”.
To which I replied, “Just to be clear, they were only charges, no convictions.” which was true. I didn’t mention the ones that were pending.
He raised his eyebrows to a point where I assumed his hairline was at one time. “I was talking about your academic record.”
“I know, I was just joking.” Which of course I wasn’t but I thought it would be in my best interests to change the subject.
“How very droll” he said as I thought to myself that his vocabulary most likely far exceeded his sense of humour. ** He pondered my grades, which obviously he felt didn’t make the grade.
“Based on your marks you could consider Mining or Geology” he said.
I had never been North of Algonquin Park before, and no one in my family had ever been involved in mining or even near a rock for all I knew. But I had quite a bit of experience drinking as a minor so that option seemed to make sense to me.
I thought to myself that “Mining sounds like a real money maker to me” which I didn’t realize I had said aloud.
“Excuse me?” the Dean exclaimed, his eyebrows were getting a real workout that day.
“I said mining sounds like a real character builder to me”. I assumed there were quite a few characters in mining already and one more wouldn’t hurt.
The Dean didn’t give me a warm embrace or even a hearty handshake when he said, with as little feeling as possible “Yes, whatever. Welcome to the school of engineering.”
And that’s how I ended up becoming a Mining Engineer.
*Editor’s Comment: Engineer humour mixed with Granddad jokes? Quite possibly the worst of both worlds.
**Editor’s Comment: Cranky Old Men prefer smaller words that start with “B” and end with “eer”.
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